Gigapans

In 1970, the Cosanti Foundation began building Arcosanti, an experimental town in the high desert of Arizona, 70 miles north of metropolitan Phoenix. When complete, Arcosanti will house 5000 people, demonstrating ways to improve urban conditions and lessen our destructive impact on the earth. Its large, compact structu...

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The rainforest mesocosm, at the north end of Biosphere 2, was created to simulate several tropical rainforest habitats (figure 8). The biome can be divided into the following habitats:
Lowland Rainforest includes most of the eastern part of the biome. It is dominated by large trees with a ground layer of aroids....

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The savanna was designed to perform several different functions within Biosphere 2. Its primary goal was to provide a hydrological transition zone between the desert and rainforest mesocosms. The objective was to learn how to balance atmospheric chemistry by varying hydrological regimes within the tropical mesocosms. T...

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The University of Arizona assumed management of Biosphere 2 in June 2007, with a 3-year lease of the 3.14 acre facility. The agreement to pay a $100 annual fee to owners CDO Ranching and Development may extend to 10 years.
A $30 million gift from the Philecology Foundation, founded by Edward P. Bass, funds Bisophere 2...

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The desert was designed to simulate an arid desert scrub ecosystem in a coastal climate with erratic winter rainfall and summer drought. Excessive rain and relatively low evapotranspiration during the initial two-year closure resulted in a dense scrub invaded by grasses. Conversion to a Mediterranean scrub woodland was...

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The basement area of Biosphere 2, known as the Technosphere, covers nearly 3.14 acrea. It is where all the electrical, plumbing, and mechanical systems are houses. There are 26 air handlers (AH) located in the technosphere. Of these, 14 are large units that can heat and cool the air, remove particles from the air, main...

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The Biosphere 2 ocean system is ideal for testing models of chemical or biological changes on an ocean community. It is unlike any other artificial system, due to its large scale and biological complexity. The unique closure allows whole system manipulations and monitoring that would be extremely difficult in a natural...

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The Biosphere 2 ocean system is ideal for testing models of chemical or biological changes on an ocean community. It is unlike any other artificial system, due to its large scale and biological complexity. The unique closure allows whole system manipulations and monitoring that would be extremely difficult in a natural...